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“We are
Berliners
”
Region 10 ILDEP
*
activity 2017
Steve Hunt
- 10 Region Secretary.
10 Region have for the past four years
arranged a two-week ‘internship’ for
student German Police Officers from
Brandenburg, near Berlin, as part of
the IDLP scheme.
T
his year we welcomed 20 year old
Fräulein Melanie
Vrede and 32 years old, Herr Sven Mosig. Both
spoke excellent English and were excited about their
attachment to Essex Police which was based in Colchester.
Over the years I have tried to vary the students’ itinerary so
they get as much varied UK policing experience as possible
and maybe a chance to experience duties different to their
usual tasks in Germany.
Their first three days was spent in plain-clothes with officers
from ‘Operation Raptor’ a local drugs enforcement team
that specialises in investigating local and travelling drug
dealers to Essex. Based in the north of the county in covert
premises the German officers joined in with the team
of Esther, Iggy, Matt, Andy, Sarah and Nico. They were
involved with local arrest and drugs warrant operations.
Then came a day with Crime Scene Investigators at Clacton where Sven
was introduced to the famous ‘Rossi ice cream’ on Southend sea front. A
dwelling burglary examination took him and CSI Gareth JONES to the south
of the county, while Melanie assisted in taking fingerprints from another
burglary scene.
The start of the following week saw them for two days attached to the local
policing team at Colchester patrolling routinely with uniformed officers in
marked police cars. When they were with the team they were shown around
the town hall and met the Mayor.
The following day Melanie assisted
with a drugs interview at Clacton Police Station whilst Sven went to the
local recycling centre to assist in searching for a cat believed to have been
accidentally deposited there.
One of the tasks that befalls the student officers is preparation and
delivery of allocated thesis by their supervisors, to be delivered upon their
return. This year the subject was, ‘police corruption’. I contacted Essex
Police Professional Standards Dept and they were granted a day at that
department firstly with Detective Inspector John Walne
who explained the complaints procedure and corruption
investigations. They then spoke with Detective Sergeant
Jeff Wright who had his own challenges when exposing
corruption many years ago as a constable and his stories
transfixed them.
The next day the pair were welcomed at the Essex Police
Air Support Unit and very soon each was ‘scrambled’ to
accompany the helicopter crew to locations including
Basildon to search a park area, Hertfordshire for a man
with a knife, and Peterborough for a vulnerable man who
was missing. Melanie hadn’t flown in a helicopter before
and was most apprehensive but took to it like a ‘duck to
water’ and enjoyed every second. Sven, an ex-paratrooper
took it all in his stride. Both were then able to take a flight
over London and see the sad remains of the Grenfell
Tower tragedy, a sight I am sure will remain with them for
many years.
After describing their visit as ‘wonderful and fantastic’
the next day they were safely delivered to the airport –
another successful internship completed.
*International Learning & Development
Exchange Programme
left to right Melanie Vrede, Ben Pedro Anido and Sven Mosig
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Article
POLICE WORLD
Vol 62 No. 4, 2017